[comp.protocols.time.ntp] Setting fudge factors for reference clocks

Mills@udel.edu (11/06/90)

Philip,

See my paper in the January 1989 ACM Computer Communications Review
for a discussion of NTP timekeeping accuracy. If that tart rag is
not at convenient paw distance, a PostScript copy is in the file
pub/ntp/ccr.ps on louie.udel.edu. From data collected here, a
systematic offset of a few milliseconds is not unlikely, given the
network connectivity under the Atlantic.

Dave

philip@beeblebrox.dle.dg.com (Philip Gladstone) (11/06/90)

I have been running xntp for some time now with a couple of local
stratum 1 clocks and some remote clocks. I have noticed that there
seems to be a persistent difference of a few millisecs between my
clocks and some of the US clocks. [I'm in the UK!].

I happen to know that my clocks are not very good at finding the
actual 'start-of-second' pulse -- analog circuitry and all that.
However, I beleive that the edge that I get is within 1 ms of real
time.

The question is:

    How correct are the stratum 1 clocks? Is the precision an accurate
    estimate? 

Does anyone have any neat tools for recording time difference
information over a period of a few weeks to construct graphs etc?
--
Philip Gladstone      
Development Lab Europe 
Data General, Cambridge
England.  +44 223-67600